Last week, over 350 girls across Otago got a taste of cricket, rugby and football all in one hit during the FERN FEVER events held in Alexandra and Invercargill. The events formed a part of Otago Cricket’s Annual ‘Women and Girls Week’ which involved a variety of activities across the region to celebrate and grow the female game.

Fern Fever is a cross-code collaboration between Otago Cricket, Football South and Otago Rugby. With the hosting of three Women’s World Cups in Aotearoa over the next two years, what better way to celebrate and excite young females than let them get amongst the action themselves.

OCA Women & Girls Lead, Jess Davidson, explained how the decision to collaborate came about.

“It is not about each individual sport, but about how we can work together to provide each participant with an enjoyable overall experience” Davidson explained.

“It is an exciting time for women’s sport and FERN FEVER is a great example of what can be achieved when sports share resources to achieve common goals”.

The FERN FEVER Festivals are open to Year 5-8 female students who have an interest in trying different sports in a fun, social and girls only environment. Festivals are tailored to students that have little to no experience in these sports, right through to students that have or are currently playing.

During the event, schools join mini activity groups that spend 40 minutes – 1 hour with each sport throughout the day. While the students are with each sport they complete fun, sport-related skills and games that allow young females to explore and experiment in each sport. A festival like atmosphere is created by having all sports on quality outfields such as Molyneux Park and having music playing throughout the day.

Davidson explained her vision for the outcomes FERN FEVER may achieve.

“In addition to raising awareness around the upcoming Women’s World Cups, the main objectives are to get more girls playing and loving sport” Davison stated.

“As a result, we hope this will create a love of physical activity and contribute towards lifelong physical wellbeing’’.

Participants were lucky enough to receive world cup giveaways and be joined by Otago Sparks Emma Black and Kate Ebrahim.

Both Black and Ebrahim got right into the action, being no strangers to the other sports on offer. With Black a Dunedin Premier Women’s Football Player and Ebrahim a former Taranaki and Canterbury Women’s Rugby Representative, the pair were the perfect role models to encourage girls to give all sports a go.

The next Fern Fever event will hit Dunedin on Tuesday 15^th February 2022 as part of the CWC22 Trophy Tour. Other 2022 Fern Fever Events are being planned in Queenstown and Gore to ensure we spread the excitement across all areas of the region!

Article added: Wednesday 08 December 2021